Member-only story
A critical reading of the Taliban’s misogynistic manifesto, ‘The Islamic Emirate and Its System’
Farhad Hussain authored this review for the Zan Times in Persian, and it was translated into English by Rustam Seerat.
In 2022, “The Islamic Emirate and Its System” was published in Afghanistan. The 600-page book was written by Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban’s chief justice, after being by approved Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader. Originally published in Arabic, it has been translated into Farsi-Dari by Mohammad Saleh Mosleh.
At the core of the book are governance-related topics, including women’s education and teaching, the prohibition of co-educational systems, women in politics, and the status of women in Islam. The book can be considered the Taliban’s manifesto, meaning that an examination of its contents can help us understand the regime’s worldview, including its misogynistic attitude toward women, especially when it comes to education.
Education and the teaching of women
In reading Haqqani’s book, a question comes to mind: What is knowledge?
Based on his writings, as well as statements of other senior Taliban leaders — including Muhammad Hanafi, head of the Ministry…